Grimly Fiendish

Before Mr. Brown gifted me a CD copy of The Damned's 2022 live album, Night of A Thousand Vampires, I would have told you my list of great live albums was limited to three: The Who: Live at Leeds, Slayer: Live Undead, Slayer: Decade of Aggression, and Ozzy Osbourne: Tribute. Now there's five, because The Damned's two-disc live show recorded at the London Palladium on October 28, 2019 is stellar. I mean, start to finish, this is a total banger in every sense of the word, and it earned an immediate place in my October regular rotation. Here's a favorite, among a double album chocked with favorites.

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31 Days of Halloween:

1) George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead

2) V/H/S/ playlist (Amateur Night; Safe Haven; Slumber Party Alien Abduction; Bone Storm; Dreamkill)

3) The Warriors

4) Big Trouble in Little China

5) Dreamscape

6) Infirmary

7) Beware Boiúna

8) Milk & Serial

9) Pumpkinhead

10) Deathgasm (The Last Drive-In Presentation)

11) Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings

12) Carrie (Mike Flanagan)/ John Carpenter's The Thing

13) The Roost / Return of the Living Dead III

14) Trigger Man

15) Evil Dead Burn

16) Pulse/ Lord of Tears

17) Impetigore/ Sator

18) My Soul To Take/ The Serpent and the Rainbow

19) Terrifier

20) Evil Dead 2013/ All Hallows Eve

Larry Fessenden's version of the classic, Universal monsters comes to a head in the new film Trauma Or, Monsters All, due out November 4th. Here's the trailer:

I am looong over due for a rewatch of both Depraved, which I haven't seen since it was in the theatre back in 2019 and Black Out, which came out VOD in 2024 and which, although watching, I remember next to nothing about. Fessenden's seminal NY vampire film Habit, which I know quite well. Still, the prospect of all these characters meeting in the new film - I expected Depraved's Adamand Blackout's Charley to meet, as they did briefly in Blackout's after credit scene, but I did not expect Habit's Sam to enter the mix. So cool! To think, Fessenden has basically been building to this for his entire career! So cool.

Trauma Or, All Monsters gets a limited theatrical rollout, so I may end up having to hit the Belcourt for a screening.

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NCBD:

Trim week, but some goodies in the box for sure:

I don't know if I'll be fortunate enough to snare one of these "C" covers, but I'm going to try. Regardless, loving Sean Murphy's new dystopian series.

Oh man, the cover! I feel so much for this Abe Lincoln robot. If Destruction Be Our Lot continues to head up my top comics of 2026 list; the places this is goes are fantastic, and judging by this image, we're getting out of the "Robot World" and into what's above ground. I'm rooting for you, Abe!

I've always said that Spider-Man has the most Halloween-esque rogues gallery, so how can I pass this up? I'm still not sure about this "Treat" villain that's essentially a female Hobgoblin - Ol' Hobby being my favorite Spider-villain of all time - but I see pumpkin bombs and I fork over da cash, capiche?

Not gonna lie - I hate this cover. It's the color scheme. Still, this book has been cooking and a recent leak - if it's true - says some major things are en route, so my complaints are skin deep at most. 

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Playlist:

The Damned - Night of a Thousand Vampires

Godflesh - Decay

Type O Negative - Origin of the Feces

Ritual Howls - Into the Water

The Final Cut - Consumed

Ain Soph - Rituals

Miranda Sex Garden - Suspiria

Miranda Sex Garden - Fairytales of Slavery

Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Eldritch Lace Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Four of Cups

• Ten of Pentacles

• Five of Swords

Contemplating stability is the first step to stability.

Wow. Loud and clear.